This song has been posted fairly recently over at the mammoth 200 songs rundown at When You Can't Remember Anything At All. I'd been meaning to write about it for some time and a little repetition in our part of the blogworld is inevitable I think. Jamie Xx released a single back in 2014 that attempted to summarise and pay homage to the entire history of UK underground dance music. It is inevitably nostalgic but it is also totally contemporary and bang up to date. Using UK garage's beats, some heavy bass and his own trademark steel drum sound Jamie builds a track in love with the music that inspired it. Throughout he uses vocal samples (taken from a short film called Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore) to illustrate it and drive it, starting with 'You like junglist music?', moving on to 'we kept it UK, that's what we're trying to do, we're keeping it going the same way, we're all under one roof raving, laughing and joking, y'know what I mean' and eventually finishing with the voice getting distorted as someone reels off clothing labels 'Fila, Head, Kappa, Ellesse, Lonsdale, Sergio Tachini, Burberry, Diadora...', neatly summarising the longstanding link between British dance music and British street wear. It is a pretty stunning and evocative piece of work, and it wasn't even on the 2015 album In Colour that it clearly predicts.
All Under One Roof Raving
It is a great song indeed but still not his best, Far Nearer, for me anyway from 2011 take the gold.
ReplyDeleteHe's a talented boy.
ReplyDeleteThat tune and Gosh are both great records
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